Celiac (also spelled coeliac) disease is a gluten sensitivity. Ingestion of gluten, as in wheat, barley, rye and oats, results in incomplete digestion, leading to irritation of the gut wall. This irritation causes damage to the intestinal lining, which prevents the body from absorbing food nutrients. Symptoms can include diarrhea, abdominal pain and swelling, skin rashes, neuritis and mouth ulcers. Damage to the intestinal lining can be reversed by following a gluten-free diet.

Thomas Bartram, in Bartram’s Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine (available at Richters) includes the following suggestions for coeliac disease: